A little help from our friends
Caroline Lobsinger
"What would you think if I sang out of tune?
Would you stand up and walk out on me?"
I know you're already humming along even though it's just the first few lines of "With a Little Help From My Friends," a 1967 Beatles classic from their "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.
In many ways the song is about friendship and connections, where the singer is able to lean on their friends in times of hardship or trouble. Considered by Rolling Sone as one of the top 500 songs of all time, the song was written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon specifically for Ringo Star, the band's drummer, to sing.
In many ways, the song is a perfect fit for this month's North Idaho Business Journal.
By leaning on our connections, our network of friends, co-workers and community members, there's no end to what we can accomplish: learn new skills, reach new customers, brainstorm new products and ways to do business. It's also a chance to talk to others in the same position, community and business leaders, volunteers and others about how they would handle similar situations.
Need career advice? Chances are there's someone in your circle who's been in a similar position or happy to brainstorm ideas en route to the perfect solution.
Looking to gain new skills? Chances are there's someone in your network who knows of a class or course — or might even be teaching it — that will help you learn something new.
Need connections? Networking groups abound — from chambers of commerce to Kiwanis and Rotary to economic development groups. Regardless of your interests or time of day you have available to get together, there's a group of friends just waiting to help you more than get by.
Take Linda Coppess, president and CEO of the Coeur d’Alene Regional Chamber. Since coming on board, she's noticed just that: People do business with people they know, people they have relationships, people who give back to the North Idaho communities we love and call home.
“The heart of networking is asking questions,” Coppess said.
Connecting the community with each other.
After all, North Idaho chamber and business officials said, sometimes tackling a problem means reaching out, looking at the situation from a different angle. That's where networking, looking for a little help from your networking friends, comes into play.
Consider the annual Art Walks in downtown Coeur d'Alene or the monthly meetings by nonprofits in Bonner County.
Brainstorming ideas and suggestions, offering support, banding together to boost traffic and spread the work.
The idea for the monthly Art Walks came from a local gallery owner and has blossomed into something special. Not only is it something fun for the community, it's a way for the region's artists to connect as well.
“Artists can really bolster the foot traffic and just draw people in and create something that is a little unexpected or out of the norm,” Arts and Culture Alliance executive director Abby Light said. “They developed it as a way to bring more people downtown, especially during those slow seasons and started for businesses, but it's sort of blossomed into this amazing thing for the artists.”
It comes down, local chamber and business officials said, to one thing.
Connections.
Or, in the words of the Beatles, a little help from our friends.
— Caroline Lobsinger, NIBJ editor
